Who is Bob Williams, and why is he on TV talking about Hurricane Katrina?
On September 6 and 7, numerous national media outlets featured G. Robert "Bob" Williams, president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, falsely criticizing Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin -- both Democrats -- for their handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. But none of these media outlets disclosed that the Evergreen Freedom Foundation is a conservative think tank that espouses "limited, accountable government" and receives funding from numerous conservative donors. Nor did they make clear how Williams, who was a Washington state legislator during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, is qualified to comment on hurricane disaster relief efforts.
Williams's media tour appears to have been launched by a September 6 Wall Street Journal op-ed. He also was featured on the September 6 editions of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, ABC's World News Tonight, and Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, as well as the September 7 edition of MSNBC's Connected: Coast to Coast.
On his guest appearances on The O'Reilly Factor and Connected: Coast to Coast, Williams claimed that Blanco was largely to blame for the slow government response to Katrina's devastation, because "the feds can't come in" to provide disaster relief unless requested by the governor. This is false; in fact, the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan clearly states that the federal government may take a "proactive" response to a catastrophe and bypass state requests for aid. Normally, it is a governor's responsibility to request federal aid in the event of an emergency. But under a "proactive" response, "[s]tandard procedures regarding requests for assistance may be expedited or, under extreme circumstances, suspended in the immediate aftermath of an event of catastrophic magnitude." Moreover, Blanco requested federal aid three days before Katrina made landfall in Louisiana. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reprinted Blanco's August 27 request to Bush to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana and to provide "supplementary Federal assistance." Further, the White House had already authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assist with the hurricane emergency. According to an August 26 White House statement, FEMA was authorized "to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency."
In his Journal op-ed and his appearances on The O'Reilly Factor and Connected, Williams claimed that, "sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation." But news reports indicate that Bush -- in an effort to ensure such a precaution was being taken --called Blanco "shortly before" the press conference at which the evacuation was announced -- casting doubt on Williams's claim that Bush's phone call precipitated the announcement. Lou Dobbs Tonight and World News Tonight featured brief videotaped segments of Williams criticizing New Orleans' evacuation plans.
None of these media outlets noted that the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, which purports to "advance individual liberty, free enterprise and limited, accountable government," is a conservative group that receives funding from conservative grant-making organizations such as the Scaife Foundations and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
Nor did they make clear exactly how Williams is qualified to comment on hurricane disaster relief. According to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation website: "Our primary research areas are budget and taxes, education, health care, welfare, and citizenship and governance." Williams's biography on the site states that he "is known as a budget and tax expert in the state and is frequently consulted for advice on fiscal and tax policies."
ABC News correspondent Dan Harris noted that Williams "dealt with emergency response issues after the eruption of Mount St. Helens," while Fox News identified Williams as a "Frmr. State Legislator in Mt. St. Helens Area." But the Mount St. Helens eruption (which occurred 25 years ago) and Hurricane Katrina are notably dissimilar -- specifically in their respective impacts and the amount of warning and preparation time preceding them. The eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, killed 57 people and was foreshadowed by two months of unusual seismic activity and an emergency declaration on March 31. According to census figures, Skamania County, where the volcano is located, had a population of 7,919 in 1980.* By contrast, Blanco declared a state of emergency on August 26, noting that "Hurricane Katrina poses an imminent threat to the state of Louisiana." That same day, the National Weather Service predicted that there was a 17 percent chance Katrina would strike New Orleans by August 29. According to the most recent census figures, New Orleans' population in July 2004 was 462,269.
Thank you MMFA for exposing this fraud. I know Bobby Williams. I was preparing to send you a message to investigate this nonsense and you were already on top of it! Great work. Bobby Williams was a gadfly legislator who was marginalized in his own party. He was a candidate for governor in the 1988, receiving less than 40 percent of the vote. He has made his living with his think tank which, as you noted, is conservative to the point of being libertarian. He has made a career in recent years of suing the state teachers union over campaign issues and other matters. He may have been a legislator when Mt. St. Helens erupted, but there were 146 other legislators as well and he was not among the leadership. The comments he made on Fox and in the WSJ, with the errors you quickly discovered, demonstrates the quality of the work his think tank does as well.
I saw this cretin on Coast to Coast this afternoon and knew something wasn't right. Thanks MMFA for filling me in on just what that something was.
My fear now is that the public, with their 15 second attention span, will forget the week of hell that last week was.
I saw this cretin ALSO and could smell Republican Hack talking points.
Pulled up a google on him and lo and behold...he IS a Rethug Hack!
What a shocker!
Williams's claims crediting the president for the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans are absolutely absurd in light of other materials not mentioned in your work. In particular, CNN [CNN Transcript] recorded Governor Blanco's actual statement concerning Bush's phone call as follows:
Later that evening, Governor Blanco spoke with Larry King [Lary King Transcript] about Bush’s phone call. She told King that the president “Was glad to hear that the mayor had already decided to do a mandatory evacuation.”
The Evergreen "Freedom" Foundation is not even considered a think tank, by those who know what they do. They are basically a Private Interest (just a few key contributors) Lawfirm busy sueing organizations for their own agenda.
[link to www.mediatransparency.org]
I love when cable news does this! Good job pointing this out! How come cable news channels just begin to parade some guy out of nowhere, on all the channels, a guy we never heard of before?
CNN did this with Ken Timmerman promoting the Iran War, before that was wiped off the front page by Hurricane Katrina. CNN was parading Ken Timmmerman on, with no rebuttle, and portraying him like he was part of the CNN team!
Good catch! With this Bob Williams. I love your "Who is ______________" headlines, because that means you're thinking like I am: who the hell is this guy from nowhere being paraded on every news channel, and who made the decision to start promoting this guy, and what is the reason behind the push of this guy being on all news channels, out of nowhere? These things aren't accidents!
It is interesting that in SC, the day after the editorial by williams in the WSJ, the Greenville (SC) News ran an editorial that was very similar (same basic talking points). This one was buy a former aid to the Republican gov. of SC at the time Hugo hit the SC coast.
It really cracks me up when cable news says, "Now we turn to so-and-so about Hurricane Katrina (or whatever, or Iran nuclear capability), and we never question, "Who the f*** is this guy???" And the cable news channel is acting like whoever they have on, is an unbiased expert on something!!! And they get a free forum on national TV to say whatever they want, with no rebuttle or different viewpoint! That's what they did in the lead-up to the Iraq War! I read on FAIR, that the mainstream media had something like 90% pro-Iraq War interviewee's and stories, leading up to the war, suppressing anti-Iraq War views.
I must be addled tonight. I'm looking for something that clearly illustrates this point the article makes:
"..the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Plan CLEARLY STATES that the federal government may take a 'proactive' response to a catastrophe and BYPASS STATE REQUESTS FOR AID. Normally, it is a governor's responsibility to request federal aid in the event of an emergency. But under a 'proactive' response, '[s]tandard procedures regarding requests for assistance may be expedited or, under extreme circumstances, suspended in the immediate aftermath of an event of catastrophic magnitude.'"
The way I'm reading the quoted section of the pdf (watch out, it's 426 pages long), FEMA can expedite requests for aid already made or it suspends them after "the immediate aftermath" of a natural disaster. It doesn't indicate to me that FEMA can tell the state, state, we're gonna speed supplies and personnel to you like there's no tomorrow and you're gonna take 'em in like it or not. It still looks like the state has to make the request. What’s missing?
Hi lesly
I think you may be reading it wrong. It is the “standard procedures” that are suspended; thereby allowing for the federal government to circumvent the local and expeditiously supply aid in a catastrophe. So no, technically they do not need to wait for a request. I believe the intent was to avoid “red tape” delays.
Sad to say, Bob Williams was my representative in the Washington State Legislator in 1980 when "our" mountain blew its top. I worked in the FEMA Disaster Center in Kelso, WA (back in the day when FEMA actually was responding to disasters) and I can tell you that NOT ONE TIME did Bob "The Weasel" Williams even bother to show up at that center. How he got to be an expert on disasters is beyond me. The only disaster he's familiar with is his abortive attempt to run for congress in Washinton's 3rd District, when he got his ass kicked by Jolene Unsoeld, who was in my opinion the best congressional representative this district ever had.
farnsworth et al:
I too know Bob Williams from the same place and time. He was marginalized by his own party and the laughing stock of critical thinkers. How rich it is that he, of all people, has been trotted out as a disaster relief expert for national media.
panzerr-3